Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Training the Puppy in Your Brain: “Catch It in the Act”

The brain changes itself constantly throughout our entire lives. All of our experience changes the brain. Symptoms such as pain, discomforts of illness, anxiety, and depression also change the brain — because they are part of our experience. The brain “learns” those symptoms, and builds them into pathways that stay in the brain. These pathways become stronger and stronger with repetition.

How can we “unlearn” symptoms? I remember learning trigonometry in high school, and then never used it again. Eventually, I forgot how to do it — I “unlearned” trigonometry.

If we want to “unlearn” pain, we have to stop “using” it. To understand how, it helps to know something about dog training.

How is the brain like a puppy dog?

If you’ve ever trained a dog, you know that it takes a lot of time, patience, and repetition.

The trainer also needs to have three very important qualities:

Stay positive

Be consistent

Always “catch it in the act”

When I walk in the house and see my dog with her nose in the garbage, I want to interrupt that behavior as fast as I can (in a neutral way) and then immediately get my dog to demonstrate a positive behavior so I can praise her: “good dog!” It looks like this:

On the other hand, if I come home and see garbage on the kitchen floor, with the dog happily lying on her bed in the other room, I’ve lost my opportunity for training. If I call her into the room and show her the garbage, she doesn’t understand. There is no perceived connection between the garbage and her doggy brain. That is why I have to “catch her in the act”!

Similarly, if I want to extinguish a symptom (remember that symptoms are reinforced by connections and pathways in the brain) I can “catch it in the act” by

immediately noticing that I have pain, or anxiety, or depression (whatever symptom I have) stopping the experience of the symptom right now by taking my attention away from the symptom itself and

quickly counter-stimulating the brain using one of many positive attention-grabbing techniques, such as telling my brain to stop! the symptom, and remembering a fun activity, thus

helping my brain feel like my dog, “wonderful, good, happy brain!”

Consistency

We learn from dog training that when the trainer makes a mistake (gets tired, overworked, doesn’t feel well) and does not immediately stop the unwanted behavior, the training itself will ultimately be more challenging and take longer, leading to more garbage on the floor!

Why is it so important to interrupt the symptom as soon as we notice it?

The answer has to do with the rules of Neuroplasticity — how it works in the brain:

What is fired is wired (and nerves that fire together wire together): When brain cells (nerves) are activated, cell by cell, it makes a pathway (set of connections between nerves) that stays in the brain. Repetition strengthens the connections/pathways.

Nerves that are activated at the same time in the same place make connections and pathways together

Use it or lose it: The pathways that have been created in the brain disappear if you don’t keep using them!

When you make them you break them; when you break them you make them: In order to make new connections (pathways) in the brain, existing connections are broken; in order to break existing connections (pathways) in the brain, new connections must be made. This way the brain conserves its resources.

We want the brain’s “use it or lose it” principle to break up connections and pathways that reinforce symptoms of chronic pain/discomfort, anxiety, and depression.

The brain will do this only when symptom-related connections and pathways are not being “used.”

Therefore, we must interrupt the experience of the symptoms as quickly as possible to stop “using” those pathways.

The brain keeps changing – we can do it!

When we consistently interrupt the experience of our symptoms, eventually the brain will decide that the symptom-related pathways are no longer being “used.” That is when the “use it or lose it” principle will be activated. Pathways associated with pain, anxiety, depression, and other symptoms will be broken up to help the brain make new positive connections and pathways. As pathways are broken up, symptoms reduce more and more. I’ve been using this practice for almost six years, and experience vastly reduced pain and greatly expanded energy and abilities. The puppy dog in my brain is as happy and well-trained as my wonderful dog Grace.

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Danielle Rosenman, M.D.

About Me

My current practice of Medical Counseling and former practice (over 25 years) of being a family doctor have allowed me the privilege of a warmly confidential relationship with innumerable people, amazing people who have generously shared their lives and their stories with me.

I find that my personal experiences as a woman, physician, mother, and a person living with an invisible disability of chronic back pain, intertwine with the stories of my patients, family, and friends to form a tapestry lined with wonder and mystery. If we look closely, it is here that the hero inside can be revealed.

What Does it Mean to be a Hero?

I have found myself thinking a lot about heroes. Who is really heroic? Are heroes born that way, with a Destiny looming ahead? Is heroism a rare thing, the subject of poetry, books, movies, and headline news? Or can anyone become a hero, and if so, how does it happen? Above all, what does it mean to be a hero?